A-League chief Danny Townsend has hailed Brisbane Roar’s new management group of Kaz Patafta and Zac Anderson, saying the pair had the flexibility restore relationships and “quickly” change the general public’s poor notion of the membership.
Following the choice of the Roar’s house owners, Indonesian conglomerate The Bakrie Group, to take away Chris Fong because the membership’s chairman and chief government officer, former Australian youth internationals Patafta and Anderson will take cost of the three-time A-League champions.
Patafta has been appointed chairman and chief government officer, whereas Anderson has the job of chief operations officer.
“They’re young, they’re energetic and they understand football,” Townsend stated.
“That club needs a fresh approach to doing business and I think they’ll do a great job.”
He stated the Bakrie Group had made a “funding commitment” to Patafta and Anderson, however that cash wasn’t wanted for a number of modifications to be made to the Roar’s picture.
“Behaviour, strategy, moving back to Brisbane from Redcliffe, building better relationships with the community, building better relationships with the corporate sector, building better relationships with Football Queensland … there’s so much that is low hanging fruit that will change the perception of that football club pretty quickly,” Townsend stated.
“I want to see the Brisbane Roar get back to their glory days when they were a marquee club in the competition.
“It’s one club sitting in a state that’s got a huge football pedigree. It’s the third biggest metro city in the country and it should be flying.
“We need the Roar as a league to be healthy. With some reinvigorated leadership there, and them moving back to Brisbane, and with our support, I think we can get the club back to where it was.”
Townsend, who because the Australian Professional Leagues chief government officer is in command of the A-League, stated Fong was nonetheless the Bakrie Group’s consultant on the APL board – for now.
“Chris will stay on the board of the APL at this point in time. We haven’t resolved that as yet. I don’t know what his intentions are about what he’s doing,” he stated.
Originally revealed as A-League chief Danny Townsend excited by Brisbane Roar’s appointment of a brand new management group
Source: www.dailytelegraph.com.au